"Martin v. Loewis" <mar...@v.loewis.de> writes: > Microsoft has just released Visual Studio 2010, along with its free (of > charge) Express edition. Following a tradition, they are likely to > withdraw support and availability for VS 2008 Express some time in the > future. > > Python 2.6, 2.7, and 3.1 are all built with that release (i.e. 2008). > Because of another long tradition, Python extension modules must be > built with the same compiler version (more specifically, CRT version) as > Python itself. So to build extension modules for any of these releases, > you need to have a copy of VS 2008 or VS 2008 Express. > > If you are planning to build Python extension modules in the next five > years, I recommend that you obtain a copy of VS Express, just in case > Microsoft removes it from their servers. As mentioned, it's free of > charge. When downloading it for later use, it's probably best to get the > offline ISO image release, available from > > http://www.microsoft.com/express/Downloads/#2008-All > > Disclaimer: I'm not connected with Microsoft or its release process. Any > claim on future actions that Microsoft may take is purely hypothetical. >
I'm curious to know exactly the differences between the c/c++ compilers you get with various versions of VS and those you get with the (command line only) Windows SDK (formerly called the platform SDK). The windows sdk is a free download. Is the compiler you get the same as the one you get with the full paid version of VS? This web page seems to suggest it might be <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/bb980924.aspx> -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list